Woman, 50, Pleads Guilty To Leading Drug Ring

Socorro Guerra, dressed in bright yellow slacks and a colorful jersey as she stood meekly before a federal judge on Monday, looked more like a kindly grandmother than a hardened criminal.

But prosecutors contend this plump, graying Pembroke Pines woman nicknamed ``Suki`` headed the United States operations of a cocaine-smuggling outfit capable of importing 1,000 pounds of cocaine in less than three months.

Guerra, 50, who once told a federal magistrate in Fort Lauderdale that she made $250 a week working at a grocery store, pleaded guilty in Miami to two drug counts involving cocaine valued at $9 million wholesale.

Her daughters, Maria, 26, and Clara, 23, characterized in court documents as assisting their mother in her drug business, also had been scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Thomas E. Scott, but they never showed up.

Scott issued warrants for their arrests. A spokesman with the U.S. Marshals Service in Miami said Monday evening authorities feared the two young women had fled Pembroke Pines for their native Colombia.

A string of other defendants in the case, including west Broward County resident Hector Vierra and Miami lawyer Rex Ryland, entered guilty pleas rather than face a trial that was set for this week.

Socorro Guerra was led away from the courtroom by federal marshals after entering her plea.

``She`s the nicest person I`ve ever represented. It`s sad,`` attorney Louis Casuso said of his client, a Colombian national. ``She`s like a grandmother.``

``She was the connection to Colombia,`` Assistant U.S. Attorney Eileen O`Connor said, for a group accused of importing cocaine through Fort Lauderdale for distribution in New York, California and South Florida.

The defendant faces a maximum term of 35 years in prison as a result of her guilty plea. But, if the case had gone to trial and she had been convicted of all the charges against her, she could have faced as much as 119 years in prison, authorities said.

Guerra`s arrest followed an undercover investigation in which Broward Sheriff`s Office deputies once unwittingly crossed paths with federal agents.

That occurred after 220 pounds of cocaine, flown into Fort Lauderdale- Hollywood International Airport on March 10, was loaded into a truck and delivered by an undercover drug agent to the parking lot of a diner on State Road 84, according to court documents.

The truck was driven away from the diner by Eduardo Garcia, now a fugitive in the case. But the vehicle developed engine trouble and stalled at the intersection of Interstate 95 and State Road 84.

A sheriff`s deputy stopped to help, only to discover the drugs. The seized cocaine was turned over to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration the next day, court records showed.

In May, eight members of the group, including Maria and Clara Guerra, were arrested in Denver after 800 pounds of cocaine were seized by federal agents in what was termed Colorado`s largest-ever cocaine bust.

The two Guerra daughters had flown to Colorado to inspect the load, destined for California, and to plan for its distribution, authorities said.

Two indictments in the case, one in South Florida and another in Colorado, later were consolidated and transferred to Judge Scott. The guilty pleas entered Monday involve a majority of defendants in both those cases.

During the investigation, DEA informants taped conversations as Socorro Guerra, Ryland, Gilberto Gonzalo-Diaz of Miami and others planned flights from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport to Medellin, Colombia, for large loads of cocaine.

The group held their planning sessions at Fort Lauderdale restaurants and at Vierra`s ranch in the 14600 block of Sheridan Street, according to documents.

Authorities said Socorro Guerra told federal informants she got started in the drug business after her divorce more than 10 years ago and described herself as the head of the group`s business in the United States.